We report the detection of extended warm ionized gas in two powerful high-redshift radio galaxies, NVSS J210626-314003 at z=2.10 and TXS 2353-003 at z=1.49, that does not appear to be associated with the radio jets. This is contrary to what would be
expected from the alignment effect, a characteristic feature of distant, powerful radio galaxies at z> 0.6. The gas also has smaller velocity gradients and line widths than most other high-z radio galaxies with similar data. Both galaxies are part of a systematic study of 50 high-redshift radio galaxies with SINFONI, and are the only two that are characterized by the presence of high surface-brightness gas not associated with the jet axis and by the absence of such gas aligned with the jet. Both galaxies are spatially resolved with ISAAC broadband imaging covering the rest-frame R band, and have extended wings that cannot be attributed to line contamination. We argue that the gas and stellar properties of these galaxies are more akin to gas-rich brightest cluster galaxies in cool-core clusters than the general population of high-redshift radio galaxies at z>2. In support of this interpretation, one of our sources, TXS 2353-003, for which we have Halpha narrowband imaging, is associated with an overdensity of candidate Halpha emitters by a factor of 8 relative to the field at z=1.5. We discuss possible scenarios of the evolutionary state of these galaxies and the nature of their emission line gas within the context of cyclical AGN feedback.
We report the discovery of a 3 kpc disk of few 10^9 Ms of dense, warm H_2 in the nearby radio galaxy 3C326 N, which shows no signs of on-going or recent star formation and falls a factor 60 below the Schmidt-Kennicutt law. VLT/SINFONI imaging spectro
scopy shows broad (FWHM sim 500 km/s) ro-vibrational H_2 lines across all of the disk, with irregular profiles and line ratios consistent with shocks. The ratio of turbulent and gravitational energy suggests that the gas is highly turbulent and not gravitationally bound. In absence of the driving by the jet, short turbulent dissipation times suggest the gas should collapse rapidly and form stars, at odds with the recent star-formation history. Motivated by hydrodynamic models of rapid H_2 formation boosted by turbulent compression, we propose that the molecules formed from diffuse atomic gas in the turbulent jet cocoon. Since the gas is not self-gravitating, it cannot form molecular clouds or stars while the jet is active, and is likely to disperse and become atomic again after the nuclear activity ceases. We speculate that very low star-formation rates are to be expected under such conditions, provided that the large-scale turbulence sets the gas dynamics in molecular clouds. Our results illustrate that jets may create large molecular reservoirs as expected in positive feedback scenarios of AGN-triggered star formation, but that this alone is not sufficient to trigger star formation.
We present an analysis of the kinematics and excitation of the warm ionized gas in two obscured, powerful quasars at z>=3.5 from the SWIRE survey, SWIRE J022513.90-043419.9 and SWIRE J022550.67-042142, based on imaging spectroscopy on the VLT. Line r
atios in both targets are consistent with luminous narrow-line regions of AGN. SWIRE J022550.67-042142 has very broad (FWHM=2000 km/s), spatially compact [OIII] line emission. SWIRE J022513.90-043419.9 is spatially resolved, has complex line profiles of H-beta and [OIII], including broad wings with blueshifts of up to -1500 km/s relative to the narrow [OIII]5007 component, and widths of up to FWHM=5000 km/s. Estimating the systemic redshift from the narrow H-beta line, as is standard for AGN host galaxies, implies that a significant fraction of the molecular gas is blueshifted by up to ~ -1000 km/s relative to the systemic velocity. Thus the molecular gas could be participating in the outflow. Significant fractions of the ionized and molecular gas reach velocities greater than the escape velocity. We compare empirical and modeling constraints for different energy injection mechanisms, such as merging, star formation, and momentum-driven AGN winds. We argue that the radio source is the most likely culprit, in spite of the sources rather modest radio power of 10^25 W/Hz. Such a radio power is not uncommon for intense starburst galaxies at z~2. We discuss these results in light of the co-evolution of AGN and their host galaxy.
